F1: Lewis Hamilton Beats Button to Pole in Malaysia

McLaren claimed a front row lock-out for a second weekend in a row, with Lewis Hamilton qualifying on pole position a tenth ahead of team-mate Jenson Button.

Michael Schumacher gave another strong performance in a frantic qualifying session at the Sepang circuit which saw the German put his Mercedes AMG in third position, the highest grid place since returning to F1 in 2010.

(Credit: Reuters)

Red Bull are yet to show the dominating performance that we have become used to in recent years, with Mark Webber qualifying in fourth and team-mate Sebastian Vettel could only manage fifth. However, the German opted for the hard compound tyres which could give him a tactical edge in tomorrow's race.

Kimi Räikkönen had posted the fifth fastest time, but was relegated five places due to changing his gearbox during practice on Friday, pushing the Finn down to tenth. Team-mate Romain Grosjean qualified in seventh.

The Lotus is looking strong again this weekend after showing good pace in Australia last weekend, and Räikkönen posted the fastest time in the second qualifying session in Malaysia.

Hamilton claims the 21st pole of his career, ahead of team-mate Button and Schumacher. (Credit: Reuters)

Qualifying was incredibly close at the top, with just four tenths of a second covering the top eight drivers.

It was another disappointing day for Ferrari as the drivers and team continue to battle with an under-performing car. Fernando Alonso will start the race in ninth after suffering problems with his KERS towards the end of the session.

Team-mate Massa fared even worse, only managing to qualify in twelfth and therefore failing to make it into the third qualifying session.

Paul di Resta claimed fourteenth place in his Force India, while the sister car of Nico Hulkenberg will start in sixteenth.

For the first time this season, all 24 cars qualified within 107 percent of the fastest time, which will see the HRT team start their first race of the 2012 season, having missed the cut in Australia last weekend.